About SAI

National History

Sigma Alpha Iota is an international music fraternity for women whose mission is to encourage, nurture, and support the art of music. The organization was founded on June 12, 1903 at the University School of Music, Ann Arbor, Michigan by seven outstanding women at the university: Elizabeth Campbell, Frances Caspari, Minnie Davis Sherrill, Leila Farlin Laughlin, Nora Crane Hunt, Georgina Potts, and Mary Storrs Andersen.

Sigma Alpha Iota is an organization which promotes interaction among those who share a commitment to music. Members of SAI are active in all areas of campus music and campus life, working closely with faculty, administration, campus and community groups, music professionals and patrons. In addition to personal encouragement and support, members may receive scholarships, loans and awards in many areas at all levels of music-related study. Sigma Alpha Iota has long been recognized as a leader in the field of music and provides a lifetime of fraternity contact.

Since its founding, Sigma Alpha Iota has initiated over 115,300 members and now has over 330 active collegiate and alumnae chapters worldwide. For more information, please visit Sigma Alpha Iota's National Website.

Chapter History

In 1929, five music students, headed by Harriet Hanna Kurtz, organized a music club at Carnegie Institute of Technology, which was soon to become a chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. The Alpha Mu Chapter, with a membership of fifteen, was installed at the college on May 16, 1930. Two members of the faculty, Misses Huldah Kenley and Susan Canfield, also were installed. The first president was Rose Aiello Ressa. In April 1967, Alpha Mu initiated its 400th member. In August of the same year, the name of the school was changed to Carnegie Mellon University. Around the summer of 1997, the Alpha Mu chapter declined, and no members were initiated from May 1997 until the reactivation on February 12, 2006. Meghan Zervoulis, who graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Piano Performance, a minor in Conducting, and a certificate in Piano Pedagogy, led this new group of pioneers. Now in 2012, Alpha Mu has 24 members.